KDOL: Unemployment down in November

The Kansas Department of Labor released some “positive news” early Tuesday in the state’s November 2011 labor report.

According to estimates, Kansas gained 5,000 nonfarm and 4,500 private sector jobs over the month, dropping the unemployment rate to 6.0 percent from 6.2 percent in October and from 6.8 percent a year ago.

“During November, not only did the unemployment rate decrease, it did so with more people entering the labor force,” said Karin Brownlee, Kansas Secretary of Labor. “This is positive news.”

Kansas has added 8,400 nonfarm jobs this year, a 0.6 percent increase, and private sector jobs were up by 11,100 since November 2010.

“More than 15,000 people joined the Kansas labor force during the past three months,” said economist Tyler Tenbrink. “People are beginning to look for work again and, for now, the economy is producing enough jobs to fill the added demand, although a number of these jobs are seasonal in nature.”

The November 2011 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, down from 6.7 percent in October 2011 and down from 6.9 percent a year ago.

There were 18,283 initial claims for unemployment benefits in November 2011, up from 16,713 initial claims in October 2011, but down from 23,822 in November 2010. There were 182,778 continued claims in November 2011, down from 209,659 in October 2011 and down from 270,864 in November 2010. These numbers include Regular, Extended Benefit and Emergency Unemployment Compensation claims. EB and EUC benefits are federally funded through 2011.

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WICHITA — The number of Kansans waiting to see if they qualify for unemployment benefits is up considerably from last year, according to a report from the Legislative Research Department.

More than 6,500 Kansans have been waiting to see if they qualify for unemployment benefits, which is more than twice the number of people who were waiting three months ago and four times the level in 2010.

for over 3 months, with no end in sight. The dip in unemployment is strictly temporary, for Cmas workers. What kind of idjit doesn't understand THAT when their whole job is documenting trends in unemployment????? The employees in UI dept. have been cut--the woman on the phone told me 85%. So they're probably in this long line of the newly-destitute too.

What kind of state thinks it's okay for someone who has lost thier job--to go WITHOUT INCOME for several months, because of the slash and burn "governing" going on?

It's hell out there! Competition for EVERY job is fierce, and application processes are now predominately anonymous, submitting everything online and hoping against hope that, somehow, yours will stand out amongst the hundreds applying for the same position.

I have a Bachelor's degree, and am competing for LOW wage jobs, while waiting to hear from the ones with living wages and any benefits at all..... (which can take months themselves)

And the LOW wages are getting lower and lower.
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This is the first Christmas in my lifetime, that I won't be able to get my kids anything at all. They're troopers about it, but it sure hurts, knowing that I am supposed to be steering this ship, but it's floundering in a veritable sea of icebergs!

Thanks, thugs in congress. Thanks, Brownback. OUR quality of life is about hardscrabble hand-to-mouth, while you sit in the lap of luxury, and have only the best.

"More than 15,000 people joined the Kansas labor force during the past three months..."

34,996 jobs lost the past TWO months, 15,000 "added"back the past three= 19,996 net loss of jobs, the past two months out of three, but we don't know how many lost that mystical third month, which isn't included.

So, basically, from the 'apples-and-oranges' data provided, 35,000 lost + 15,000 gained is a decrease in unemployment?

"There were 182,778 continued claims in November 2011, down from 209,659 in October 2011 and down from 270,864 in November 2010. "

Presumably, a LOT of those are people whose benefits ran out and aren't factored in. Who KNOWS what that number is? Could even be as high as 26, 881 just in November, alone (209,659 - 182,778 = 26,881), or it could be some number minus the 15,000 "gained"...IF all those gained were previously in the system...for 11,881 dropped out of sight. Or, it could be an incalculable combination of people dropping completely out of the system (and out of hope), and the new first-time low-paid holiday season cashiers and stockers, or previously benefits-exhausted people finally finding someone who will pick them out of the hundreds of others who apply.

These "fuzzy math" labor statistics always seem a bit unreliable, to me. Seems more like some government pencil-pusher justifying his job by tossing out a bunch of numbers and conclusions that seem impossible to confirm to tie together for an accurate accounting.

ticked off - - and for GOOD REASON! I am too - but QUIT swallowing the koolaid. Next time you hear a politician - or anyone for that matter - say this is the best country in the world and that we have to maintain our SUPERIOR stance in the world - stand up and say NO - WE ARE NOT the best country in the world. Plenty of Scandanavian countries, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway - just to name a few - DO NOT HAVE this problem! Yes - they are socialist countries. Hey - newsflash - that is NOT a dirty word. You have all been brainwashed to THINK it is. But it isn't. And it is a myth that they have to wait months and months for medical care. What do WE have to do here. Just try to get into an endocrinologist in Topeka within a couple months. You can't! Especially if you are a new patient. We have, what - about 3 in the entire city??? OMG - this country is going down - fast. Quit buying the BS from everyone! Everyone should go over to that loser of a Capitol Building and DEMAND answers from the powers that be as to why it has taken years - years!!! - to repair the Capitol and NOW THE ROOF LEAKS. OMG. What do we have running the show - 2nd graders? THEY could do a better job! I wish my ancestors had stayed in Sweden - my family would be A LOT better off!

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009, it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is "Bush's Fault", think about this:
January 3rd, 2007, the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress:
The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77
The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%
The Unemployment rate was 4.6%
George Bush's Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB CREATION!
Remember that day...
January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee.
The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!
THANK YOU DEMOCRATS (especially Barney ) for taking us from 13,000 DOW, 3.5 GDP and 4.6% Unemployment...to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

BTW: Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie -starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy. Barney blocked it and called it a "Chicken Little Philosophy" (and the sky did fall!)
And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA
And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie?
OBAMA and the Democrat Congress, especially BARNEY!!!!

So when someone tries to blame Bush...
REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007.... THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!"
Bush may have been in the car but the Democrats were in charge of the gas pedal and steering wheel they were driving the economy into the ditch.
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.
Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budget.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is "I inherited a deficit that I voted for,
and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th."
There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!

"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living."

First of all...it's two months, that they know FOR SURE. $1000 yr. / 52 weeks = $19.23/wk.

$19.23 x 8 (weeks) = $153.84.

So, all they know for SURE is that it will cost a taxpayer $153.84 for the year.

And then what? After 8 weeks? They'll reinstate the "Tax Holiday" for the other 10 months?

Why not just agree to do it now, if that's what they eventually want, anyway?

Because, Dems are involved. And Dems just want to cause trouble. They WANT to waste taxpayer time and money arguing this again in two months. They WANT to waste millions of taxpayer dollars reconfiguring computers to account for ONLY two months of no-tax holiday and then 10 months of tax holiday.

Why not just save time and money, and make it for the whole year...if they are going to do it anyway?

Because Dems are just trying to cause trouble. That's all they do. That, and spend (and waste) taxpayer dollars.